Beware the Frozen Heart
by Clockwork Boundary
Summary: When Queen Katarina's icy powers go a wary at her coronation, it's up to her sister, Flora, with help from an ice harvester named Luke and a grumpy snow rabbit to thaw her frozen heart. {frozen AU}
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: *whispers* i'm going for it. Can't hold it back anymore. I think i literally created this just for clive/hans. Also, i got to prep for whenever iceburns week starts.**

Chapter 1

It was a bright night in the kingdom of St. Mystere and all of its citizens were fast asleep in their homes. That is, all except for their very own Golden Apple.

The moon shone into the bedroom as the little princess climbed out of her bed. She dashed across the cold hardwood floor to her elder sister's bed. Her sister slept peacefully, her silvery black hair gleaming under the moonlight.

"Kat?" The little girl poked her cheek, climbing onto the bed and bouncing up and down. "Wake up!"

She slowly opened her eyes, shaking her head. "Go back to sleep, Flora."

"I can't!" Flora pouted, tugging at her sleeve "Come on, let's play."

The elder sister rolled her eyes, pushing her off of her. "Play by yourself, I'm trying to sleep."

She frowned, tapping her foot. _Aha!_ The girl pulled herself up, tapping on her sister's shoulder again. This time, Katarina had to listen to her.

"Do you want to go ice skating?"

A smile spread across her lips as she pulled herself out of bed. What better time to go ice skating than the middle of the night, especially in the summer?

*.*.*.*

The two girls snuck out of the palace together, sneaking past the guards stationed at the doors. It seemed that they were the only two in the entire kingdom who were awake on this warm summer's night. Flora dragged Katarina out of gates to the lake that sat right outside the kingdom.

"Do the magic, do the magic!" She tugged at her sister's sleeves.

Katarina smiled, a giggle emanating from her lips. She pulled up her sleeves, clearing her thoughts. In her palm, icicles started to form, making snowflake designs all over her hands and arms. Flora's eyes widened in fascination.

"Watch this." She cast the icicles towards the lake, freezing it over. Flora giggled in delight as she took a cautious step onto the ice.

"This is great!" She twirled on the ice, laughing and giggling as she slid over the lake. "You're amazing! This is amazing!"

Katarina stepped onto the ice with hesitation, adding layers and layers of ice to keep it from breaking through. Flora stayed out of her way, skating happily across the frozen lake.

She flinched when she heard the sound of cracking.

"Flora?" She whispered, hearing her own heart pounding in her ear. "Please, just move away from there and come here."

"What's wrong?" Flora looked up, not hearing the ice underneath her feet crack and start to break apart.

Katarina tried to manage a reassuring smile. "Nothing's wrong, I only need you to come here right now. Please."

Before she could make a move, the ice below her younger sister gave way. Panicked and scared, she sent an icy blast to push her out of the way as the ice split and came apart. Katarina hurried off the ice before she fell in and hurried to her sister's side.

"Flora?" Her terrified whispers fell on deaf ears as she tried to wake up the unconscious girl. A silvery streak appeared on her hair and her skin was freezing. "Flora, please wake up!"

"Princess Katarina!" Bruno, one of her father's servants, called from the gate, running over to the two and scooping up Flora in his arms. "What happened?"

"She was about to fall and I tried to get her off but I hit her too hard." She managed. "What do I do?"

The man frowned. "I know a man, but he doesn't live nearby. He goes by the name of Layton."

*.*.*.*

A carriage rushed through the woods surrounding St. Mystere. They were running out of time and Flora was growing colder and colder with every passing moment.

"Layton!" The king called as they reached the cottage where the man supposedly lived.

A man wearing a tall top hat appeared at the door, seeing the girl in their arms. "It's a good thing you came to me when you did."

He knelt down beside Katarina. "Born with powers of ice and snow, I presume?"

"They're getting stronger too." The king nodded.

"You're lucky it wasn't the heart." He murmured, examining the little girl. "I'm afraid the best way is to erase any memories of your power."

Layton touched his hand to Flora's forehead as she slowly started to warm up. Katarina clutched her hand to her chest. _I did this…_

"She… she can't know about my power?" The girl whispered quietly, a guilty look in her eyes.

"It's for the best, dear. There is beauty in your gift." Layton's gaze moved to her. "Yet there is also danger. You will have to control your gift.

"Fear will be your greatest enemy."


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: since no one said anything bad about the last chapter, we're on an okay to continue with this. Review if you liked please.**

**Ugh, Iceburns week isn't until the end of March… whatever, I'll do a 100 prompt thing with them later…**

** Chapter 2**

Flora peeked out of her bedroom and down the hallway. She ran out to the window. Snow fell down, overlooking the frozen lake. Finally, she and Katarina could go ice skating like she wanted to!

She continued down the hallway, knocking on her older sister's door. "Kat? It's snowing… again. Do you want to go ice skating?

Bouncing with eagerness, she waited for the response that never came. She knocked again.

"Come on, let's play like we used to!" She tried again, raising her voice so that she could definitely be heard. "You'll have to come out of your room some time…"

_She's still ignoring me… what did I do? _Flora frowned, pressing her mouth to the keyhole. _This'll definitely get her attention!_

"Do you want to go ice skating?"

On the other side of the door, Katarina replied in a weak, barely audible whisper. "Please go away, Flora."

Dejectedly, the girl walked away and back to her bedroom. "Okay, bye…"

Katarina breathed a sigh of relief as her sister finally left. Her powers were getting stronger, covering her room in frost. It terrified her to think that she could hurt someone with her curse.

"Here." Her father came in one evening, holding out a pair of pristine white gloves to her. "Remember what I told you."

She nodded, slipping the gloves on. "Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show. I know, Father."

*.*.*.*

Years passed by without Flora catching a single glimpse of her sister. Every time the door would be locked. Her parents never explained to her why Katarina left her room. Yet there was always a cold draft that came from her room that she never understood.

Excited, she raced down the hall. It was snowing again, perfect for them to go ice skating again. She smiled, knocking on her sister's door.

"Kat? Let's go ice skating!" The young girl called, bouncing on the very tips of her toes. "Or- Or we could go have a snowball fight or we could make snow angels or…"

Flora skipped down the stairs to the magnificent foyer of the palace. "I mean, I hardly see you or anyone for that matter…"

Her gaze fell onto the rows of paintings on the wall and the ticking grandfather clock. "It's so boring around here…"

Inside her bedroom, Katarina was catatonic. Her powers were starting to get out of hand no matter how much she tried to hide them away. The floor was coated in ice and the icicles hung from the window frames. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't control it.

"What am I supposed to do…?" She whispered as snowflakes rained down from her fingertips.

*.*.*.*

Soon enough, the sisters were already young adults. Katarina regretfully, never quite had complete control of her powers and Flora was so tired of asking for her to play with her that she gave up on it.

"Do you have to go?" Katarina whispered as her parents got ready to leave.

"We'll only be gone for two weeks. You'll be fine." Her father reassured his elder daughter. "I promise."

That promise wasn't kept. As their carriage was on their way to the next kingdom over, they were attacked by a group of bandits. When the carriage was recovered, it was stripped of any valuables and no survivors were left behind.

The funeral was held on a gray morning. Flora, dressed in black, trudged through the halls that seemed lonelier than ever now.

"Kat?" She whispered, knocking on the door. "I know you're in there even if you're ignoring me. It's just you and me now… and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do…"

"Do you… would you like to go ice skating?" Flora managed, starting to feel tears prick at the corner of her eyes. "Please, Katarina?"

On the other side of the door, snow was suspended in midair as ice and frost covered every surface. The dark haired girl sniffled, tears sliding down her cheeks.

_Yes, I do…_


	3. Chapter 3

** Chapter 3**

"Princess Flora?"

The young woman fidgeted, heaving herself up. Her bed head was everywhere as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Ah, mornings. Her worst enemy. Sunlight streamed in through the windows.

"Hm?" She mumbled, letting out a loud yawn.

"Sorry to wake you, but-"Matthew began but she interrupted.

"No, don't worry about it. I've been up for a while." She tried to clear the sleep from her eyes before leaning on her arm and slowly drifting back asleep. Flora jolted awake yet again. "Who is it?"

"Still me, ma'am. The gates will be opening soon so it would be best if you got ready." The servant sighed, a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"Get ready for what?"

Another deep sigh escaped his lips. "Your sister's coronation."

Her eyes flitted to the coral dress set out beside her bed made especially for the event. She bounced out of her bed in excitement, a twinkle in her eyes.

"It's coronation day!" Her voice squeaked as she got dressed quickly and tied her hair up into a ponytail with a giant red bow.

She dashed outside, nearly sliding on the floors as she raced down the stairs past the servants who were starting to open the windows. Her heart started to race faster. The windows and doors hadn't been open in years and now they were finally swung open for everyone to see.

Servants were carrying out various dishes for all the guests, narrowly avoiding the princess who skipped and weaved through their lines. Flora ran down to the ballroom, dizzily excited at the very notion of having people around after so long of being alone.

"I can't believe we're going to finally have a ball!" She squealed, spinning around the dusty ballroom, raising little puffs of dust with her skirt.

She ran to the window, watching as carriages arrived at the gates to St. Mystere. Finally, she wouldn't be confined to roaming the castles alone and she was thrilled at the idea of meeting everyone.

"I can't wait to meet everyone. What if I meet… _the_ one?" She thought cheerfully as she leaned on the windowsill.

Claudia, the house cat, climbed onto the windowsill to spend a nice quiet nap before Flora scooped him up and spun him around. The poor cat obviously didn't enjoy the dance.

"He'll be handsome and nice." The young woman sighed dreamily. "And then we'll hit it off and we'll talk _all _evening. Doesn't that sound amazing?"

She spun around, accidentally sending the cat flying straight into the curtains. "Oops?"

*.*.*.*

Katarina stared out the window with dismay as people flooded into the city. Her hands shook with fear and at the same time, anticipation. They couldn't open the gates. Her powers could go out of control and she'd ruin everything. She was a monster and they would all know it.

"Conceal, don't feel. Don't let them know." She whispered, staring at the painting of her father on the wall.

The soon to be queen slipped her gloves on, her shoulders tensing. She turned to the door and the servant waiting outside.

"Tell the guards to open up the gate."


End file.
